Riccati, Jacopo Francesco, Count
RICCATI, JACOPO FRANCESCO, COUNT (1676-1754), Italian mathematician, was born at Venice on the 8th of May 1676, and died at Treviso on the isth of April 1754.
He studied at the university of Padua, where he graduated in 1696. His favourite pursuits were scientific, and his authority on all questions of practical science was referred to by the senate of Venice. He corresponded with many of the European savants of his day, and contributed largely to the Acta Eruditorum of Leipzig. He was offered the presidency of the academy of science of St Petersburg; but he declined, preferring the leisure and independence of life in Italy. Riccati's name is best known in connexion with his problem called Riccati's equation, published in the Acta Eruditorum, September 1724. A very complete account of this equation and its various transformations was given by J. W. L. Glaisher in the Phil. Trans. (1881).
After Riccati's death his works were collected by his sons and published (1758) in four volumes. His sons, Vincenzo (1707- 1775) and Giordano (1709-1790), inherited his talents. The former was professor of mathematics at Bologna, and published, among other works, a treatise on the infinitesimal calculus. Giordano was distinguished both as" a mathematician and an architect.
Note - this article incorporates content from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, (1910-1911)
